April 28, 2014

Hola! :) Have to say, that corny joke was pretty good. I giggled here in the library haha. Sounds like a lot of changes in the ward! I won't even recognize it when I get back! I can't believe school is getting out and everything! So crazy!

SOOO. This week. Yikes. It's been a rough, rough week. So Norma was doing SUPER good keeping the Word of Wisdom and everything, it had been almost a week, she was set for her baptism for the 27th, and then we dropped by one day, and she was outside smoking and drinking. DAGGER to the heart. Oh man. We were all just crying! After a really long painful visit, she committed to live it again. But! That meant she couldn't get baptized this week. She's trying super hard, but she's had a really hard life that she just wants to forget about. We're still working with her and see her everyday. She's back on date for this next Sunday, but she needs a lot of help!

Then! Sarahi. Oy. So! Tuesday night I had a dream about Sara Luz (their special needs daughter) and she drowned...I woke up and I was just scared! (which has been the first scary dream on my mission, it was super weird) Then for the next 3 days, every time we went over to their house, they weren't there or they were like ignoring us, like we had NO idea what was going on! We were SO stressed! She wasn't answering our calls or texts or anything! And we were preparing her for her baptism for Sunday as well! But since we couldn't even see her, that didn't happen. Then on Saturdaythey FINALLY opened the door! She said that Tuesday Sara Luz had like this operation thing and it like makes her sick? So she has to stay with her 24/7 cause when she throws up it like drowns her... so that was really weird! Had a dream about her that night that she drowned.. hmm I guess I'm psychic! But she's starting to get better, so we'll be meeting with them regularly again this week!

THEN. Oh my goodness. So Jesus has been gone back east for the past 2 weeks right? We'd text him everyday, he was still reading and doin good and everything. Tuesday he said he was getting back late Saturday night, just in time for his baptism Sunday! So he said he was excited for it, the whole bit. Then he wouldn't answer our calls or texts ever since Saturday!! SO STRESSED! He wouldn't even answer us about the program or anything! So we made the program ourselves, and just had to do everything by faith! Then Sunday morning he didn't come to church. So the Elders drove up there during sacrament meeting (we had other investigators we were helping with) and they came back and said he was sick, but he was going to be there for his baptism at 7. So we had peace of mind, then went over after church, and he wasn't there. Didn't answer our phone call or text. Then finally at 3, he texted us and said sorry for the delay, and all this stuff. LONG, very stressful story short, he was in Riverside getting things ready for his new house, so we texted him the baptismal interview questions so he would be ready for his interview right before the baptism, he passed, he was super excited, everything! So Then at 6, we're at the church, had everything set up, the font is filled, and then he texts us again and says he wasn't going to make it back by 7. Yikes. Another LONG very painful story short, we kept delaying it, waiting for him, encouraging him, all the people were on standby, all the Elders and Luna are at the church with us helping us. We were there til 9, and then he just stopped texting us and didn't answer our calls. Oh my goodness. Most painful thing ever unplugging an unused font. Words can't even describe. And we still haven't heard from him. We have no idea what's going on. We're going over today, so hopefully we can figure everything out.

Sorry for the long email! But PLEASE just keep all these people in your prayers! Satan is working sooo hard! It's been rough, but I know miracles can still happen! Mission life isn't easy, but it's more then rewarding! We did get to finally have another lesson with Ramiro since his baptism and he's just still glowing! Made us SO happy! It's changes like that, that make it all worth it! And all these people will have these same changes! This is the week! :) Have a great week! Love you!

Hermana Nelson

ps I learned how to make homemade tortillas :) Super fun and super good! Look forward to that when I get home ;)

April 21, 2014

FELIZ PASCUA! :) Hope ya had a great Easter! Ours was just a regular day, but NO ONE was home, so it was actually kind of long, but it was still good :) I don't remember Terri.. haha you guys probably got to know her after I left. HA good luck being MC! Should be fun ;) So crazy school is almost out! I seriously can't even believe it's almost May! Where does the time go??

This week was really great! (as always right? That's just a missionaries life for ya ;)) Miracles after miracles! So we taught Norma the word of wisdom, and she REALLY wants to change her life! She's been drinking, smoking, and drinking coffee pretty much her whole life! But after we taught it last week, she's been living it! MIRACLE! Totally cold turkey! And it's hard cause her family still does it, so she's around it  A LOT! She's so strong though! We drop by every night to follow up and I can already see the changes in her! She's SO happy! The Elder's gave her a blessing after church yesterday and it was just amazing :) We need to keep preparing her, but the hope is that she's getting baptized this Sunday! And Jesus comes home from his mom's house this week, so the hope is that he gets baptized this Sunday as well! There's a few others that potentially could too, so we'll be working SUPER hard this week! Pray for miracles!

So I had a really cool experience this week! So in a lesson with that lady that came to the baptism last week (she's totally back tracked-she's been studying with J-dubs...) so we were just laying everything down for her cause she hasn't been keeping commitments or anything. So we were just straight forward and did a lot of testifying. Then there was a moment when Hna. Graham was talking and I was like wow she's speaking so fast, how is she doing that? (course it was in Spanish) I was just thinking, I hope I can speak like that one day. Then when it was like my turn to speak, the same thing happened to me! GIFT OF TONGUES! Holy cow! It was the coolest feeling ever! Usually I have to kind of think about like grammar and stuff when I'm speaking, but it just flowed out SO FAST! And I don't even remember what I said! And there was just so much power behind it! After it was just silent! So crazy! Super super awesome! After the lesson, Graham and I were talking about it, and we were like what just happened?? Way cool :)

We had 5 investigators at church this week! (well baptism age) We had a really sweet family that came! Sarahi, she has 5 kids, and they don't have a car that can fit all of them in it, and she has a 3 month old with a car seat, and a special needs daughter with a car seat, then 3 others, so AWESOME Hno. Huerta helped us out and picked them up! They're a cute family :)

Everything else is going really good! Just keep finding the people that are ready, and dropping the people that aren't! OH! So I had a SUPER SUPER embarrassing thing that happened to me this week! HAHAHA so bad! It's a really long story, and it's better like telling it, so don't forget to ask me about it when we Skype on Mother's day! So funny! Anyways! Love you! Have a great week :)

Hermana Nelson

oh and ps one of the Elder's recent converts, Maria, bought Graham, herself and I matching high heels!!! Uh... hahaha so weird! But we had to like accept them! So I guess I'll just keep them to remember her? hahha she's soooo sweet.

Here's a pic from yesterday! Car selfie on Pascua while we were waiting for Hno. Huerta :) And yes I know I look bald, but ya don't get a lot of time Sunday mornings to get ready cause you have to leave early to go wake up your investigators!

Hermana Graham and Kylee

April 14, 2014

HEY! Sounds like a fun spring break! Ha yeah that's the weather I've always had, but the past couple weeks it's been in the 90's. Getting hot! I don't know the Greens... I'm guessing they're English and I don't really meet English people very often. My Spanish is getting a lot better! I'm finally to that point were I can understand a lot and carry a conversion for a long time. I've gotten like SUPER good at fake listening to people that even if I don't know exactly what they're saying, they think I do haha so everyone thinks I understand everything, when I don't always! I have no idea what we're doing for Easter! Probably nothing haha BUT! EVERYONE go on Mormon.org and watch the "because of Him" video and show it to EVERYONE! And post it on ALL social media:) OH! And I got the package Saturday! It was a fun surprise! Thanks so much! :)

So this week we did A LOT of finding! Which I've had a lot of weird experiences! I don't know why but this week we've had to refer the Elders to some of the people I've met cause they want to "get to know me" creeeeeeepy. So the Elders like it cause they're getting more people haha but we dropped some more people and found some more people. We worked SO hard. Like we had 32 lessons this week! And since we worked so hard, the Lord blessed us with miracles! We had 6 investigators come to church! From 5 different families! Miracle? I think YES. 5 of them are pretty new, so we'll see! But Jesus is super solid and has been to church 3 times now, so he can get baptized! He was supposed to get baptized on the 20th, but his mom surprised them with a vacation for spring break, so he's probably not going to be home in time, so we'll have to push it back. He's super legit though! He's excited for his baptism :) He loves how the gospel has brought him so much more peace, happiness and purpose in life. SO TRUE. He's one of those awesome investigators that keeps all of his commitments and accepts everything :) so we love teaching him ;)

Then we had another miracle that we invited this lady like an hour before one of the Elder's baptisms and she came! And she LOVED it! She's one of those I need to take my time kind of people, and she works a lot on Sunday's, so we'll work with her, but she knows there's something different about the church! And she was blown away that we do this all day and we left our families to do it when we're so young.

It's been a good week! Like usual ;) Have a FAB week :)

Love,

Hermana Nelson

Pictures - April 7, 2014

It was Kristy's birthday on March 31st so Kylee and Sister Graham bought her a little cake!

Kristy and her little cake

Kristy is the woman Kylee and Sister Graham live with.

April 7, 2014

Hey!:) :)

AH! Conference was just SO amazing right??? Holy cow! As a missionary I've learned to love it SO much more! So sad when it was over, but it was just SO great! Of course I LOVED all of the talks, but one really just stuck with me, which now I can't remember his name.. haha awkward moment... was it Stevenson? I don't know.. ha but the Olympic one! (maybe cause I didn't get to watch the Olympics this year... haha just kidding) I think I loved it so much cause for me, it like tied in all the other talks. Like life on earth is really SO short and now is our time to perform! I loved that he said that we will be looking back on our life for the rest of ETERNITY! Like that's quite a long time people! haha So we REALLY have to perform at our best and do absolutely everything we can do be the best we can be and keep ALL the covenants we've made with the Lord. And then all the other talks told us what we need to do so that we can perform at our best! (I guess this is my inner athlete coming out too ;)) Conference was just great :) I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

And this weekend was also transfer weekend! Crazy right? Came up SO fast! We were so scared! But guess what! Hna. Graham and I are staying together! WOO WOO! We were so happy :) So to celebrate we went to Sally's (yes it made me miss my salon life) and we got a bunch of fun stuff, so this morning we did hair masks and I cut our hair and we're doing manis and pedis later :) who said sister missionaries couldn't have some fun right?;) I guess you could say my comps love me ;) haha just kidding! But it was fun to do hair again, I miss it!

Anyway! Yarany and Ramiro are doing great! They're just the cutest :) So happy! I can't wait til Ramiro and Brenda get married and Yarany will go on mission. (she doesn't know that yet, but she will ;)) Jesus came to conference, and is set for baptism on the 20th! He's awesome! It's happening! Then we dropped a lot of people this week and started fresh. We met a lot of new cool people. Maria, Jessica, Maggie, and Norma. They're all really awesome! On date for baptism, but it's still pretty early on, so we still have a lot to teach them and don't have a lot to update on them, but the Lord is definitely blessing us with the elect! I'm just so glad I'm staying here :) I love it here so much! Can I just like stay here my whole mission?? :) Have a good week! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Nelson